


happy ever after

by deokyeomie



Category: GOT7
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Comedy, Cute, Fake Dating, Hongseok is his best friend, Inspired by To All The Boys I've Loved Before, Jackson is the captain of the fencing team, Jaebum is also a loser, Jinyoung is a loser, Jk We Love him, M/M, Mark is an architecture student, Mutual Pining, Youngjae is an orchestra kid, but like we love him too, or at least I try, romcom, slight angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27023644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deokyeomie/pseuds/deokyeomie
Summary: "The three short stories Jinyoung had written as a way to cope with those feelings, maybe even to get rid of them. He hadn’t told anyone about this except Hongseok, which meant that Yugyeom had looked for this, had looked for something to pay Jinyoung back for something he didn’t even do.And all of this wouldn’t have been half as bad if only there hadn’t been this one single thing.The story titled ‘Strawberry Pancakes’ was about none other than his older brother’s boyfriend, Mark Tuan."_Or the one in which Jinyoung wrote three short stories about the only boys he's ever loved before and his little brother decides to post them out of spite.
Relationships: Choi Youngjae/Park Jinyoung, Im Jaebum | JB/Mark Tuan, Park Jinyoung/Jackson Wang, Park Jinyoung/Mark Tuan
Comments: 19
Kudos: 49





	1. chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello there!  
> Welcome to my second attempt of a GOT7 fanfiction!  
> I had the idea a couple of weeks ago and kind of forgot about it after, BUT here we are now!  
> I have one more paper to write and then I'll try to focus more on this story because I really want to, hehe.  
> Also, I have no idea if this has been done in the fandom yet, but this is my take on the TATBILB - Universe with Jinyoung as Laura Jean. 
> 
> Also a quick thank you to Cin for beta reading this chapter, love u!! 
> 
> Now, have fun reading and leave comments and kudos, that'd make me very happy!  
> best wishes,  
> mitch

He almost tripped over his own feet as he tried to rush into his shoes and out the door. 

“Jinyoung, be careful, you’re gonna hurt yourself!” His mother’s worried words reached his ears and he put up his hand, giving her a wave to signal that he was okay, and she shouldn’t worry too much. There was a plain bagel between his teeth as he finally slipped into his shoes, turning around after to smile at his mother, bagel now safe in his hand.

“I’ll see you after school, Mum!”

“Right.” His mother waved back at him, a laugh pooling at her lips.

Jinyoung now went on to open the door, just to almost fall over someone else’s feet now.

“Oh, careful there, buddy.” Mark smiled at him his hand stretched out to hold Jinyoung’s arm as a way to steady him.

Jinyoung looked back at him, obviously confused. He had not expected to see the boy today or even tomorrow or, well, at all for at least another month and a half. 

“Mark, what are you doing here?” Jinyoung’s mother had appeared behind him, her eyebrows raised in surprise. Mark, who had stopped holding Jinyoung’s arm for support after he made sure the latter was not about to fall on his face, smiled at the woman now holding up a backpack he had in his other hand.

“Well, my classes were canceled for the rest of the week and I figured - why not visit my favorite Park family?”

“Do you even know another Park family?” another voice said, coming from behind Jinyoung’s mother. 

Yugyeom walked out of the door now, squeezing through the door and past his mother to get out on the lawn. Instead of waiting for an answer, though, he rushed right to the car Jinyoung had just planned to take himself. Not that Jinyoung even took any notice of that with Mark standing right there in all his handsome glory and that beautiful smile that had made Jinyoung’s heart flutter countless times, including right now. 

“You’re too sweet, Mark,” Jinyoung’s mother said now, putting her hand on Mark’s arm and giving him that warm smile of hers. “Jaebum is still asleep, but you can come in and maybe wake him up? I’m sure he would love that!”

And there it was again. The deep feeling of guilt pooling up inside Jinyoung’s stomach. He coughed, trying to get his mind back on track. _‘Focus, Park Jinyoung, focus!’_ he told himself and finally managed to tear his eyes away from Mark and back to the road, where Yugyeom was now heaving himself into the dark green Volkswagen. On the driver’s seat. 

“Hey!” Jinyoung yelled, running off the lawn and right onto the driveway, waving his hands like a crazy person for Yugyeom to take notice of him. 

But Yugyeom would not have been Yugyeom if he just simply stopped in his actions. No, he actually started the car, went in reverse, and started driving off the driveway. 

“Park Yugyeom!” Jinyoung screamed, getting his hands on the hood of the car now, which obviously didn’t help him much. Yugyeom smirked at him, an evil and horrifying smirk that made Jinyoung’s insides turn and his eyes narrow in annoyance. 

The younger brother didn’t stop there, though. He had now completely driven off their property and was about to go off reverse, when Jinyoung stormed in front of the car, holding up his hand like in some superhero movie. 

Yugyeom raised an eyebrow and chuckled.

“You think I’m not just gonna run you over?” Yugyeom asked through the opened window. Jinyoung hesitated. 

“You know that Mum is still watching, right?” he said, pointing his thumb at their front door to his left. The road was two lanes wide and, on both sides, stood houses, all basically looking the same, some kind of colorful wood, two stories, big front lawn. Garages to the left and a fence leading around the property, with one gate leading to the back garden. 

“Is she now? Because I certainly can’t see her,” Yugyeom’s smirk was back and Jinyoung spun around just to be slapped in the face by his front door being locked and his mother, as well as Mark, being gone. 

“Shit,” he exhaled, slowly turning his head back to his younger brother who was tapping his fingers on the steering wheel impatiently. 

“Get out of the way, hyung. Or do you really want me to run you over?”

Jinyoung bit the insides of his cheeks. 

“I’m really gonna do it, hyung. I mean, unless…,” and there it was. Jinyoung released his cheeks and groaned.

“What do you want?” he asked, crossing his arms. Of course, Yugyeom wanted something. He always had his little schemes, looked for every possible opportunity to get his hyungs in a position where they needed something from him so he could, in return, make them owe him a favor. 

Now, Yugyeom leaned back in the driver’s seat, his face pulled into a true ‘thinker’s face’, one hand resting on his chin, while the other was still tapping away on the steering wheel.

“You know, I have this essay I need to write for my English class and to be honest, I don’t think I have time to do it. I mean, with after school activities and all.”

Jinyoung threw his head back, annoyed that he had gotten himself into this situation in the first place. He would have been on the way to school by now if only Mark hadn’t shown up and thrown him off his plan to get to the car first to escape exactly what was happening right now. 

It wasn’t like he could help it. Feelings weren’t something he had control over, not to mention making them disappear. As much as he hated it and as much as he wished it wasn’t there, here he was on yet another day of him having a big fat crush on his older brother’s boyfriend and that getting him into uncomfortable situations like this one. 

“Fine. I’ll write it for you. Now, can you please let me in the car?”

The smug smile on Yugyeom’s lips made Jinyoung gag a little.

Jinyoung’s stomach was growling. He couldn’t believe that he had actually dropped his beloved plain bagel when he was having that stupid argument with Yugyeom. He really did not deserve this, sitting in his first period of math.

“I can’t believe you just skipped breakfast. Don’t you know that’s the most important meal of the day?” His best friend Hongseok shook his head in utter disappointment. Jinyoung rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair, hands resting on his hungry stomach.

“It’s not like I wanted to skip it. Yugyeom just got in the way of me eating it,” he went on to defend himself, staring at the blackboard at the front of the class were their teacher Mr. Matthews was writing down equations, Jinyoung knew he wouldn’t be able to solve even if his life depended on it.

Hongseok, on the other hand, as much as he was complaining to Jinyoung about the latter’s lack of a healthy lifestyle, had no problem whatsoever with solving the countless numbers Mr. Matthews was writing down. Yet another thing Jinyoung could add to his list of things he envied Hongseok for.

“You should stand up to him more. Yugyeom, I mean. You’re the older one and even though we live in the States, doesn’t he know how much it means to be older in our own culture? Did he just forget about how he, as the maknae, has only one purpose and that’s to be babied for all his life and respect his elders?”

Jinyoung chuckled at Hongseok’s words, squinting his eyes to at least act like he was studying whatever was happening at the front of the class.

“Right. Have you met my brother? It’s a miracle he lets anyone breathe, today was just the tip of the iceberg and I am scared of what’s next.”

Hongseok sat up in his chair and nodded understandingly, turning his head to his best friend, and presenting him with a pitiful look.

“The offer still stands, man. I can totally beat him up for you.”

“Thank you. But my mum would kill both of us if there was even just one hair missing from her precious baby’s head.”

“Mr. Park, Mr. Yang, anything you wanna share with the class?” Mr. Matthew’s voice suddenly chimed through the room and now everyone was staring at them. Jinyoung cleared his throat and quickly shook his head, while Hongseok presented their math teacher his most charming smile.

“Actually, Mr. Matthews, you made a mistake on task 3, that’s supposed to be minus seven, not minus 9.”

A row of chuckles went through the room and Mr. Matthews turned around, dumbfoundedly looking at the blackboard.

“Oh my, Mr. Yang, you are correct!” He erased his original solution and wrote down Hongseok’s, which made the latter smirk and lean back in his chair, arms crossed the same way Jinyoung’s were. Shaking his head, Jinyoung looked at his best friend.

“Sometimes I really hate you, dude,” he voiced. Hongseok wiggled his eyebrows.

“You know you love me, Jinyoung-ah. Don’t lie to yourself,” was his answer that he whispered to him in their mother tongue. For a second Jinyoung thought about how much more convenient it would be if he really did love Hongseok. Like, as more than a friend. If he had feelings for him, he most probably wouldn’t have them for Mark and that would solve basically all of his problems.

He turned back to the board with a sigh, his shoulders hanging low. He could really use some kind of miracle.

Once math was over, Hongseok said goodbye to Jinyoung to go to chemistry while the latter went to his advanced English class, or at least planned to go there, which was disturbed by something he would rather not have seen.

Yugyeom standing in one of the narrower hallways, pressing some girl against the wall and basically grinding against her for the whole world to see. Jinyoung grimaced, but took out his phone anyways, snapping a picture of his “angelic” little brother to use as leverage on a later day. He shook his head and walked away then, continuing his stride to class.

With a shit ton of homework and a sweet enough best friend to drive him home so he wouldn’t have to face his younger brother, Jinyoung was happy that this school day was over, and he could finally go home.

Just that, something that popped up in his head only when Hongseok drove onto his street, at home another obstacle was waiting for him.

“Fuck,” Jinyoung exhaled, letting his palm meet his face.

“What?” Hongseok looked over at him, visibly confused.

Jinyoung leaned his head back against the headrest and groaned.

“Mark is at my house,” he explained to the only person that knew of his feelings. Hongseok inhaled sharply.

“Oh, yeah, that’s worth a “fuck”,” he said and took one of his hands off the steering wheel so he could place it on Jinyoung’s shoulder and pat it a few times.

Jinyoung let out a sigh and pulled his hand from his face again, looking out the window and seeing all the familiar houses of his street.

A few months back, when Mark was still on summer vacation and Jaebum had yet to fill out his last college forms, Jinyoung had dreaded going home every day because the chance of the older boy being at his house had basically been about 99.9%. For some reason, Jaebum and Mark never hung out at Mark’s parents’ place and instead chose to grace the Park family with their disgusting couple behavior almost every single day.

If things had been different, he probably wouldn’t have minded as much. Sure, it would have been annoying but at least it wouldn’t have hurt this much and there also wouldn’t be guilt inside Jinyoung whenever he looked at Jaebum. Yes, not being in love with his brother’s boyfriend would, surprise, surprise, bring a lot of benefits to Jinyoung and basically his whole family.

Because obviously at some point they started to notice when Jinyoung rushed to his room whenever Mark was around which had eventually led to Jaebum panicking because Jinyoung didn’t like his boyfriend which then resulted in Mark crying in front of Jinyoung because he really wanted him to like him and yeah. One can probably imagine what had gone on in Jinyoung’s mind back then, how he had internally slapped himself for acting the way he had and how it was because of him that Mark cried like this, practically begged him to tell him what he had done wrong.

Without really thinking about it, Jinyoung had wrapped his arm around the crying boy and reassured him that it had nothing to do with him and that Jinyoung was just so caught up in his own world that he hadn’t even noticed how that must’ve come off.

Happy that his boyfriend’s little brother didn’t hate him, Mark started to do more with Jinyoung and also Yugyeom, which, even though he did kind of like it, Jinyoung thought to be rather contra-productive to the whole ‘I don’t wanna be in love with my brother’s boyfriend anymore’ agenda Jinyoung had planned to follow. He had made an entire plan with Hongseok, how he would just silently fall out of love with Mark by not seeing him as often and spending more time with boys that were actually available (alright, the last part was something Hongseok had told him to do, but Jinyoung never _actually_ did it because, well, he was still _him_ and not exactly the type of guy to just ask random boys out) and finally, tell himself every day that Mark was off-limits and how only having these feelings was already a big breach of trust towards his brother.

As you would have probably guessed by now, parts one and two of the plan didn’t really work out in Jinyoung’s favor which left him with only one of the three parts and that was the part he already did anyway.

“I can turn around and we can go to my place if you’d like?” Hongseok threw into the car now and Jinyoung looked back at him, thinking about his suggestion for a second before shaking his head, defeated.

“You know I can’t do that. They’re just gonna get the wrong idea again and then Mark will ask questions and -,”

“And cry again, yeah, yeah. I already know the drill.” Hongseok rolled his eyes and now finally pulled onto Jinyoung’s driveway. Once he had stopped the car and unbuckled his seatbelt, he looked over at his best friend that was still sitting there, seatbelt on and eyes staring out of the windshield.

“Common, let’s go. The least I can do is say hi, right?” Hongseok bumped his fist against Jinyoung’s arm, bringing him back to reality. With a slight nod, Jinyoung unbuckled his own seatbelt now and opened the passenger door, just to stop in his steps and stare at the door.

Hongseok was just about to ask him what was wrong now, when he heard the reason why Jinyoung had stopped.

“You never let me do anything I want!” Yugyeom was yelling at someone, that much the two boys in the driveway were able to make out.

“That is not true, and you know it, Park Yugyeom!” came his mother’s voice from inside the house.

Jinyoung’s eyes widened. Yugyeom was yelling at their mother and he absolutely _never_ did that. She never gave him any reason to, as he was basically allowed to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, being her little baby and such. But this, right now, yeah this seemed like a horrible fight. Jinyoung wanted to step in, but before he could even say anything, Yugyeom spotted him right after the front door had shut behind him and his eyes turned dark. To say Jinyoung was confused would be an understatement.

“You!” Yugyeom stormed off the lawn, his index finger up and ready to poke Jinyoung in the chest after the latter had finally gotten out of the car completely and shut the door behind him.

“Thanks, _hyung_. Really, thank you for being a fucking snitch to mum!” The way Yugyeom looked at him made Jinyoung take a step back. His confusion reached his limits at what Yugyeom had said. He snitched on him to their mother? What? When?

“Yah! Park Yugyeom, don’t talk to your hyung like that!”, Hongseok shouted from the other side of the car, making his way over to the two brothers fighting (or just the one brother fighting and the other being completely overwhelmed).

Jinyoung, meanwhile, didn’t even really register the disrespectful tone Yugyeom had used and as a matter of fact, didn’t even care, but the content of what Yugyeom had said… it just didn’t make any sense.

“I didn’t snitch on you to anyone. About what even?” Jinyoung answered now, raising his hand to shove Yugyeom’s hand off his chest. Now his younger brother snorted.

“Right. Because you didn’t take that picture of me and Zoey?”

And then he finally understood.

But also, not really because, yes, he had taken the picture, but he hadn’t shown it to anyone, not even Hongseok. So, how on earth did he even find out and, what was even more important, how did their mother?

“Well, no, I did take a picture of you two. But I didn’t show it to anyone, really,” he tried to defend himself, but Yugyeom laughed right in his face, shaking his head.

“You know, I really thought that you would at least tell me the truth once I confronted you, but fine, hyung, just keep lying to me.”

Hongseok had reached them not long ago and now took it upon himself to pull Yugyeom by the arm, away from Jinyoung, who was still rather shocked.

“Yugyeom-ah, it’s enough. Jinyoung didn’t send anything to your mother,” Hongseok said, looking at Yugyeom with a deep frown, his hand still wrapped around Yugyeom’s arm.

But Yugyeom didn’t want to listen. He pulled his arm out of Hongseok’s hold, not looking at the older boy but staring at his brother with so much anger that Jinyoung could only hold his breath. He had had his fair share of fights with his brothers, yes, but nothing as bad as this.

“Since you were so kind to ruin my life, dearest hyung, I thought it would be only fair to return the favor. Have fun in school tomorrow,” and without another word, Yugyeom walked off to the car parked on the street and got in, driving off to god knows where.

‘To return the favor,’ echoed inside Jinyoung’s ears and he turned around, watching Yugyeom drive off. What did he mean by that? What did he do? And why did he wish him fun at school tomorrow? Jinyoung’s head was spinning and he could only look at Hongseok who seemed to be just as lost as him.

It took Jinyoung around five minutes to figure out what Yugyeom had meant, once he was in his room.

He sat at his laptop, Hongseok behind him and stared at the screen with wide eyes.

“He did not,” it was more a whisper to himself than anything else.

“He did not really do what I think he did.”

Actually, there was no use in trying to deny it because his worst fear had come true and it was right there in front of him.

The last three blog posts on the school’s creative board were posted by someone named ‘prknyoung’ and consisted of three short stories. The first one had been posted 30, the second one 27 and the third one 25 minutes ago. So only a few minutes before Jinyoung had arrived home.

“This is not what I think it is, is it?” Hongseok had his hands gripped around the back of Jinyoung’s chair, knuckles white and eyes wide in shock. Jinyoung swallowed hard but didn’t answer. Because what was he supposed to say? In front of them, right there on the screen, were the three short stories Jinyoung had written about the only boys he had ever been in love with.

The three short stories Jinyoung had written as a way to cope with those feelings, maybe even to get rid of them. He hadn’t told anyone about this except Hongseok, which meant that Yugyeom had looked for this, had looked for something to pay Jinyoung back for something he didn’t even do.

And all of this wouldn’t have been half as bad if only there hadn’t been this one single thing.

The story titled ‘Strawberry Pancakes’ was about none other than his older brother’s boyfriend, Mark Tuan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinyoung has to face school the next day. It comes with more than one surprise.

Yugyeom was dead.

Well, no, not _literally_. Just to Jinyoung he was dead. Not that it bothered the younger one, after all Jinyoung had betrayed him horribly. Or so he thought.

When Jinyoung had asked his mother about who had told her, she had simply said that she had gotten a call from the principal, who, beforehand, had received a tip from a student who wanted to remain anonymously. In Yugyeom’s eyes this screamed Jinyoung’s name because, 1. he had been mean to him just that morning, 2. he would never ever admit to being a snitch and 3. remaining invisible at school was one thing Jinyoung had always wanted for himself and if the information got out that he gave the principal a tip that would be long gone.

So, in Yugyeom’s head, the only way to pay Jinyoung back was to post those three short stories.

“At least he got grounded for three weeks,” Hongseok said to Jinyoung on their way to school the following day. After the both of them had discovered the damage Yugyeom had done, Jinyoung had insisted on leaving his house for the day and sleep over at Hongseok’s, which his mother had allowed due to the circumstances (normally, she would have said no, after all it was a school’s night).

But the evening had passed and so had the night, and here they were now, in Hongseok’s car on their way to school where Jinyoung knew shit would unfold. It scared the hell out of him, especially since Hongseok had checked the blog a couple hours later and there had been thousands of comments either talking about how great the stories were or who they could possibly be about.

Honestly, it had shocked the two boys because usually the school’s creative blog didn’t really attract that much attention as the school was way more focused on their football team’s games or their fencing team’s tournaments. Some part of Jinyoung wanted to believe that, while on the internet highly discussed, people wouldn’t care much for him or the stories in real life, but he knew that was a pretty long shot. He couldn’t even hope for people not knowing who posted them with Yugyeom so obviously using his name for the posts.

The school appeared in front of them and Jinyoung swallowed hard as Hongseok drove onto the parking lot where many cars were already parked, and students walked towards the entrance. Jinyoung sunk deeper into his seat, hiding from the faces outside the car, his heart throbbing rapidly in his chest. The anxiety crept up on him even more now and for a second, he couldn’t believe his brother had really done this to him.

Thankfully, no one seemed to care much for Hongseok’s car and so Jinyoung could at least relax a little while being inside it. For a second, Jinyoung closed his eyes and took two deep breaths, telling himself that it was gonna be okay. People might have read his stories, but no one knew him anyways. The only people that would probably talk to him about the stories were those he was in a class with and those were almost all the same, so, yeah, it shouldn’t be too bad.

Hongseok parked the car now and looked over at his best friend who was still sunk into the seat with his eyes closed.

“Common, we have to go,” he said as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Jinyoung sighed.

“Can’t I just stay here in the safety of this car?”

“Sorry, buddy. I will not let you crush your perfect GPA because of some stupid thing no one will remember tomorrow anyways.”

Hongseok now went on to unbuckle Jinyoung’s seatbelt now too and the latter moved his head a little towards Hongseok, his left eye opened now.

“Perfect GPA? Have you seen my math grades?” he differed. Hongseok chuckled.

“Well, _almost_ perfect then. Now, get out before I drag you out, and you can bet that that will _actually_ attract people to stare.”

Groaning, Jinyoung opened the other eye now too, followed by the door to his right. He swung out his legs, not checking his surroundings before, just to literally crush his legs into someone’s back.

“Ough!” the person exhaled as they tripped over their own feet, falling down onto the ground. Jinyoung froze in his spot.

“Youngjae!” yelled someone to his left and Jinyoung felt his stomach sink. Of course. Out of all people he could have crushed into it had to be him.

The boy on the ground got up on his elbows, looking around confusedly. His brown eyes then found Jinyoung’s face and something like realization popped up. Obviously, he knew who Jinyoung was, but it held something deeper and Jinyoung just knew exactly what it was.

The voice from earlier came closer, still yelling Youngjae’s name and when Jinyoung finally managed to get his eyes to look away, he saw Youngjae’s younger sister looking at him worriedly.

“Are you okay, oppa?” she asked in Korean now and for a second Jinyoung felt his head spin the way it always did when the languages were switched.

Youngjae cleared his throat, getting up then with help from Hongseok who had walked around the car as Jinyoung had be too shocked to do anything, which basically spoke for itself.

Once Youngjae was back on his feet, he rubbed his shoulder and awkwardly let his eyes shift from his sister to Jinyoung. The former was now standing right next to Jinyoung who was visibly uncomfortable.

“S-Sorry for making you fall,” he mumbled an apology. Youngjae nodded. Then he leaped forward to grab his sister’s hand.

“It’s fine, it didn’t even hurt. Common, Jian, let’s go.”

Together, the siblings made their way to the entrance, but before they were out of reach, Youngjae turned around once again and presented Jinyoung with a small smile.

“I also really liked the black velvet curtains. It’s a shame they took them off.”

And with that he disappeared in the mass of students with his sister.

Jinyoung felt his heart do a leap and he cursed himself. Hongseok, meanwhile, smirked widely.

“Now, now, Jinyoungie. I thought the work was purely based on your imagination?”

“Shut it”, Jinyoung responded, shoving the door shut behind him and finally starting his walk towards the school, Hongseok quickly catching up to him.

_The velvet of the curtains felt soft against my cheek. It left me confused as the curtains looked so heavy and rough. But then again there we were, tangled up in them, as part of a game that left us breathless. His hands were right next to mine as we almost stood nose to nose and his long black hair fell into his eyes so carelessly. His eyes sparkled in the darkness and my heart fluttered as I finally reached out to feel his soft skin underneath my fingertips. His mouth opened slightly when I touched his face and pleasant surprise was visible in his features. He didn’t fear my touch, no. Maybe he had craved it as much as I had. Or maybe he just didn’t mind people touching his face as long as they did it with love, the same way I did right now. He asked something I couldn’t hear with how loud my heart was beating in my chest. I only woke up from the sleep I had fallen into while looking into his eyes when his lips touched mine for the first time._

“You know, I always thought that story was especially cheesy and disgustingly romantic,” Hongseok said when they stood in front of their lockers, both of them getting out their books for the first two periods.

“Did you, now?” was the only mumbled response he got from his best friend. That didn’t stop him though.

“Yeah, totally. I mean still beautifully written, as everything you ever wrote, but like… it felt somewhat like a very stupid teenager’s fantasy of a perfect first kiss. Just that, apparently, it’s reality.” He looked over at Jinyoung now, who’s head had turned amazingly red. Hongseok chuckled.

“You know, people will probably talk about it because they’re so jealous. I mean, who doesn’t want to be subject of a story that’s this good?”

“Hongseok, please. Just- Just quit it, alright?” Jinyoung had slammed his locker door shut before turning around to face his friend, who was quite startled.

“I get it, you’re trying to make me feel better and I’m thankful for that, but the truth is, this whole situation fucking sucks. These were my deepest thoughts, not meant for anyone but me. Jesus, even you have only read them once after I finished them. No one was ever supposed to see these stories, especially not those who the stories are based on. Do you know what all of this means, Hongseok? Forget Youngjae finding out, I don’t care about that. You know who else is gonna figure it out at some point? Jaebum. He will totally see that _Strawberry Pancakes_ is about _his_ boyfriend. And then I’ll die. If not because _he_ kills me, it will be because _I_ kill _myself_.”

Without even knowing why exactly, he stormed off after that and into their math classroom, which he soon realized had been a great mistake. As he stood in the door by himself all of the eyes in the room were now fixed on him. As if he hadn’t been red enough anyways, his head got even hotter as Jinyoung tried his best to not look at anyone as he walked over to his seat in the back of the class.

His backpack did a little “thumb” noise when it landed on the floor next to his chair as he sat down, his head lowered. Not that it mattered anyways, after all everyone had already seen him, had already stared into his soul, seen him at his most vulnerable. He was scared of what they would say, he might not be friends with them or know them well, but he knew High School kids, knew how they thought and what they did to those they presumed weak.

He felt someone sit down next to him and in the next second, he could feel the presence of his best friend calming him down. Very slightly, he lifted his head up to see Hongseok give him a smile with his lips pressed together, making his cheeks poof really cutely. Then, he dared to lift his head up a little higher just to see that no one was staring at him. Or at least not as many as before. There was Stacy who was giving him a curious look and Jeff who stared at him really intensely, but then again Jeff always dozed off and just stared at whatever so this wasn’t really an indication that he was _actually_ staring at Jinyoung.

“I’m sorry, buddy. You’re right, this does suck. But I’ll stay with you. I won’t leave your side even once!” Hongseok put his arm around Jinyoung’s shoulder with a wide grin on his face that brought Jinyoung to smile now, too.

“You have a completely different class after this,” he said, his eyebrows raised as he grinned. Hongseok shrugged.

“Well, then I’ll only take you to your class and then leave you. But I’ll pick you up and we’ll get lunch later, alright?”

The first person to directly ask him about the stories was Yugyeom’s best friend, Bambam. He was a very skinny but also very handsome boy who loved to dress like he was ready to walk the next catwalk at Fashion week.

“Hey, Jinyoung,” he approached him when Jinyoung stood at his locker after math class (Hongseok had insisted to bring him to his AP English class, but Jinyoung had shooed him off after all), to get his few extra books and put the math book back inside.

“Oh, hey Bammie. What’s up?” even though Bambam was to Yugyeom what Hongseok was to him, he would never ever make him out to be the enemy the way Yugyeom was now. It wasn’t Bambam’s fault that his best friend was a complete nutjob.

“I, well, I saw that your stories were posted and I, uh, well I just figured that, uhm, well, that you probably didn’t do it yourself.”

“You figured?” Jinyoung raised his brows at him, “you mean to tell me my little brother did not brag to you about how he basically destroyed my life?”

Bambam pressed his lips together, shifting uncomfortably. After clearing his throat, he looked back at Jinyoung.

“He didn’t. Well, not exactly. He just said that he got back at you for something.”

Now, all Jinyoung could do was snort and shake his head. Right, _got back at him_. He turned to face his locker again.

“You go and tell him that he is a complete asshole. I did not do what he suspects I did, and I will most certainly never forgive him for what he has done to me,” the anger stored inside of him seemed to leak out and he quickly regained his mental strength. Bambam was not the person responsible for this, it wasn’t his fault, again, that his best friend had done something so utterly disrespectful and mean.

“What does he believe you did?” Bambam asked now and when Jinyoung closed his locker to look back at the younger boy.

“He left that part out, huh? He thinks I told the principal he basically screwed some girl in the hall. But I swear that I didn’t. Yes, I am guilty of taking a picture and yes, I was going to use it as leverage at some point, but I would’ve never gone to the principal with it.”

Something on Bambam’s face changed during Jinyoung’s explanation, but the latter was so caught up in his anger that he didn’t even notice. The younger of the two shifted nervously on his feet, looking anywhere but at Jinyoung and pulling a hand through his bleached hair.

“Oh, well, I’m sure he’ll find out it wasn’t you,” he mumbled eventually when he felt like the silence had been going on for too long. His eyes met Jinyoung’s again and he tried for a convincing smile, not sure if it was for Jinyoung or himself.

Now, Jinyoung did catch on that something was fishy, but he couldn’t exactly grasp it just yet. So, he just nodded, telling Bambam that he really hoped that was the case before he finally went to his AP English class.

What he did not expect once he set foot in the classroom, was to see a certain someone sitting on one of the tables in the middle row, talking to around seven girls around him with a charming smile on his face. Jinyoung froze, which caused the people behind him to run straight into him, making him drop all of his books on the floor. He flinched, looking down to his feet, only to be met by a pair of dark brown orbs staring right into his when he raised his head again. He swallowed hard.

See, this had been the only thing he hadn’t worried about. Or the only _person_ he hadn’t been worried about. Jackson Wang was supposed to be in China for at least another two weeks for some fencing tournament, and two weeks in High School time was a whole eternity. Jinyoung had hoped that once Jackson was back, the short story news had gotten so old that no one would talk to him about it. Not that anyone could guess that the story was about him, anyways. Well, no one except Jackson himself.

The next thing Jinyoung knew was that he was sitting at his own desk (he had collected his books all by himself), head burning red. He was staring at the tabletop trying not to think too hard about whether Jackson was still looking at him or had gotten back to flirting with these girls and telling them all about his adventures in China. Of course he would never dare to look up and check because what if he _was_ still looking at him? What would he do then? If Jackson really had seen the story, he was doomed. Jinyoung had never told Jackson about his crush, nor had he expected Jackson to ever like him back. Well, he was actually fairly sure that he didn’t like him back because Jackson had been dating Jinyoung’s former best friend, Kim Wonpil, for all of High School.

Relief washed over Jinyoung when their teacher came in and asked everyone to sit down before she started the lesson. As he was sitting quiet far in the back, Jinyoung could see Jackson sitting down in the second row. The boy looked rather tired, he noticed. Must be the jetlag, Jinyoung thought, as he continued to look at the side of Jackson’s face he had access to.

He and Jackson had met back in middle school, when Jinyoung was still in a perfectly fine three-way friendship with Wonpil and Hongseok, after Jackson had moved to the States from Hong Kong. Jinyoung had felt drawn to the boy from the first second, had even written him a love letter back then. His stomach turned over thinking about that memory since that had been the end of his and Wonpil’s friendship.

But long before the love letter, Jinyoung had hung out with Jackson a lot at Jackson’s grandmother’s house. Apparently, he and his parents had moved here because his grandmother was getting somewhat weak and needed help at the house, needed someone to look after her. Turned out that his grandmother was rather wealthy, with a house in one of these suburbs only white people lived in, big fences and great gardens and all that fuss. But Jackson’s mother was a sweet Chinese woman with wrinkles all over her face and a smile that could light up the sky. Jinyoung had enjoyed spending time with Jackson at her house, especially once she had allowed them to go to her secret rose garden at the far end of her lawn. It was hidden away between two trees, which’s branches were forming something like an archway leading to the many rosebushes and finally a fountain the size of Jinyoung’s room. It was like out of a movie, Jinyoung had thought.

It was back then, on their first evening spent in that rose garden, that Jinyoung decided he loved Jackson. And it was also there, only about three months later, that Jackson told him all about the beyond beautiful letter Wonpil had written and how he was now going out with him.

“Mr. Park, do you mind reading the next passage?”

Once again, Jinyoung flinched, his head spinning around to meet the eyes of Mrs. Walter, who was looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

Clearing his throat, he nodded, looking down at his book and reading the next part of the text.

Eager to head out of the class as the first one, Jinyoung almost ran to the door, only to be stopped by a hold on his sleeve. Everyone else was rushing out, even Mrs. Walter had already left, probably making her way to lunch, and Jinyoung cursed her in his head, and all the other students as well. Turning around, he wasn’t surprised to see Jackson Wang looking at him with a mixture of worry and confusion. Jinyoung didn’t know what to say.

“Hey, Jinyoungie. Long time no talk,” Jackson said then. Jinyoung just blinked at him.

Jackson coughed.

“Well, I, uh, I came back two days ago and got yesterday off, you know, jetlag and such. And, uh, someone texted me the school’s creative blog. I- I didn’t really know what I was supposed to expect and I, well, I wasn’t exactly expecting that if I’m honest.”

Jinyoung felt his heart sink down to his stomach.

“Jackson-,”

“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. If I had known about your feelings back then-,”

“Stop, Jackson,” Jinyoung sighed, finally freeing him from Jackson’s grip on his sleeve, “this is all in the past. My brother thought it would teach me a lesson to post those stories, I never meant for anyone to see them, really. I’m sorry that this stirred up your view on our past friendship or whatever.”

Jackson looked at him silently for a small while, before he nodded and shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans. He bit his lip and chewed on it for a second, then he looked into Jinyoung’s eyes again.

“I honestly never knew, Jinyoungie. Wonpil never mentioned-,” Jinyoung interrupted him again, this time by laughing bitterly.

“Wonpil would have never let me have something that he wanted, too, Jackson. I thought you would know how he is by now?” Jackson fell silent again, thinking about Jinyoung’s word before carefully nodding.

“I guess that’s true.”

“Well, don’t you have to get to him? I’m surprised he hasn’t shown up and thrown himself at you first thing after class.”

Now, Jackson adverted his gaze to the floor, kicking the air with his foot just slightly.

“We broke up before I left for China.”

Oh. Jinyoung’s eyes widened.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said. Jackson shook his head.

“Stop, I know you’re not. You don’t even like Wonpil, or me for that matter.”

Jinyoung snorted.

“Doesn’t mean I like to see you sad.”

Raising his head in surprise, Jackson felt his lips tug up just a little bit. “Well, thank you.”

Jinyoung nodded. “Sure thing.” He turned around just then, ready to finally leave this beyond awkward conversation, when his heart seemed to drop once again but this time through the floor and right to the middle of the earth.

Fuck. Fuck. _Fuck_.

There stood Jaebum in the hallway, looking around frantically and it wasn’t hard to guess what exactly, or rather, _who_ he was looking for. Jinyoung swirled around again, his hands grabbing at his hair. Jackson gave him a confused look.

“What’s going on?” he asked then, taking a small step forward. Looking up at Jackson again, Jinyoung suddenly heard his brother yell his name.

“I’m so sorry, but I have to do this”, he hissed at Jackson, who of course had no clue what he was talking about.

“You have to do wha-,” but again he was interrupted by the taller boy.

Jinyoung grabbed the collar of Jackson’s shirt and yanked him towards him, meeting the other’s lips with his own. Jaebum was yelling something else now but Jinyoung couldn’t hear anything with the blood rushing in his ears.

Jackson let his eyes fall shut a few seconds later, letting the kiss take over his senses. He put his hands on Jinyoung’s back, pulling him closer to him. Even though he had many questions about this, one thing was for sure. Jinyoung had needed Jackson to help him, he had seen the desperation in his eyes, had seen the way Jinyoung was contemplating about what he should do. Jackson wondered why exactly kissing him was the only way Jinyoung could get out of whatever trouble he had with his brother, but he wasn’t the type of person to judge anyone, so he just kissed him back, gave this kiss all he had to make it convincing.

And when they finally separated, both a little breathless, Jackson couldn’t help but notice how incredibly beautiful Jinyoung looked when he had just been kissed.


	3. three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaebum is furious. Jinyoung and Jackson set some rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there everyone!
> 
> So sorry for the delayed upload, I had to finish two papers and then was tired of looking at any kind of word document for the rest of the week, but here I am now.  
> I'll try to upload every Thursday at around seven o'clock in the evening, Germany time. But like today, it can sometimes be delayed.   
> I hope you like the chapter and talk to you guys soon!
> 
> you can also follow me on twitter if you like, my @ there is: @honkgyu.

Jinyoung’s heart was racing. He had just kissed Jackson and Jackson had kissed him back. Even though this hadn’t been Jinyoung’s first kiss (he did kiss Youngjae before and there also was this one very weird truth or dare session with Hongseok – but that’s a different story), it still felt different from anything he had ever felt. Maybe, he thought, it was because he used to be in love with Jackson and maybe that feeling still lingered somewhere inside of him and was now purring in his chest like a cat when it was pleased.

“What the fuck, Jinyoung?” Jaebum’s voice disturbed his thoughts and brought him back to the English classroom, where he was still holding onto Jackson’s collar and staring into his warm brown eyes. He cleared his throat and turned around, looking at his brother whose face was a mixture of confused, angry, and just a little bit disgusted (after all, who liked seeing their sibling making out with anyone).

“Oh, hyung, I didn’t see you there,” Jinyoung lied and gave Jaebum a shy smile, not exactly sure how he managed to pull off both of these things, but he wasn’t gonna complain.

“You- what the hell is this?” Jaebum pointed at him and Jackson. Jinyoung looked over at the latter now, who was standing next to him kind of awkwardly, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans and his face still slightly flushed from the kiss.

“Oh, well, I wasn’t planning on telling you so soon, but, yeah, Jackson and I, uh we’re-“,

“We’re dating!”, Jackson grabbed Jinyoung’s hand and intertwined their fingers, making Jaebum gasp in surprise.

“You’re what?” Jaebum stared at his younger brother intensively. Jinyoung shifted awkwardly.

“I know this is sudden, hyung. I- I just, well it all happened shortly before Jackson went to China and I, well, I didn’t wanna tell anyone just yet. Jackson and I had only talked about us being together for such a short time and I didn’t wanna ruin it by telling everyone while he was gone.”

The lies rolled off his tongue as if he had practiced them in front of a mirror for weeks. Jackson looked at him and tried his best not to look too impressed with Jinyoung’s more or less scary talent.

“So, you’re telling me that this has been a thing for _weeks_?” Jaebum still didn’t seem to buy it completely. Jinyoung was slowly running out of ways to convince him.

“Last time I checked you were dating Wonpil, isn’t that right, Jackson?” Jackson’s eyes shot to Jaebum and he quickly cleared his throat.

“Well, yes. We _were_ dating. But we broke up. And then I, I started dating Jinyoungie.”

“So, my brother is just a rebound to you, then?”

Jackson’s eyelid twitched.

“Or maybe he is the reason I broke up with Wonpil in the first place. You know because I have way more feelings for Jinyoung than for Wonpil.”

That one caught Jaebum off guard and Jinyoung had to hold back his laughter when he saw his brother’s shocked face.

“Is that such a shock to you? That someone can have _actual_ feelings for me?” he asked, crossing his arms. He wasn’t really offended, after all this whole thing was nothing but an act, but he knew that if it were true, he would definitely get offended by his brother’s obvious shock.

Jaebum blinked at them for a few seconds. Then he shook his head.

“You know, whatever. I don’t care if you have a boyfriend. Actually, I am happy for you. If this whole thing is true. But what I’m not too happy about is the story you wrote about _my_ boyfriend.”

And there it was. The one thing Jinyoung had wanted to avoid. His face whitened and he felt his hands starting to sweat. Jackson caught on pretty quickly, putting a protective arm around Jinyoung and glaring at Jaebum.

“I don’t appreciate you being this rude to my boyfriend, Jaebum,” he said then, frowning. Jaebum let out a bitter laugh.

“Is that so? See, _I_ don’t appreciate my brother writing a love story about _my_ boyfriend. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like a word with my brother in private.”

“Too bad. Because I’m taking my boyfriend to the cafeteria to eat now. Sorry that you came to school for absolutely nothing, but I’m sure you’ll have enough time to discuss your nonsense when he’s home.”

Without letting Jaebum say another word, Jackson grabbed Jinyoung’s wrist and pulled him out of the classroom. They heard Jaebum yell something after them but none of them payed it much attention. The two boys walked in the direction of the cafeteria, just in case Jaebum was gonna follow them, but took a left instead of a right when the time came to choose between said cafeteria and the outsides and walked out of the school and onto the trail that lead to the football field.

Somehow, they started to get awkward now when it all was over. Jackson loosened his grip on Jinyoung’s wrist and went back to having both of his hands shoved inside his pockets. The silence between them was filled with more than just awkwardness, it was almost as if they both tried hard not to think about the kiss, they had shared just a few moments ago. In all honesty, Jackson had never truly felt anything more than friendship for Jinyoung, or at least so he had thought. Now, with this kiss hanging between them, he felt as if something had been brought back to him, feelings he had never known were there.

“Thank you,” Jinyoung finally broke the silence as they arrived at one of the tables positioned beneath a big tree, just a few meters from the field. He sat down and waited for Jackson to follow suit. Once he did, Jinyoung rubbed his neck nervously and gave Jackson a shy smile.

“You really saved me back there.”

“No problem. We might not be friends anymore, but, uh, for old time’s sake.” Jackson smiled back at him and Jinyoung swallowed down his nervousness at once.

“Would you mind continuing this?”

“This?” Jackson leaned forward on his elbows; his eyebrows slightly raised as he looked at Jinyoung.

“You and me. The dating. Would you mind helping me with this, uh, situation?”

Jinyoung’s heart started beating faster when he looked at the expression on Jackson’s face. First, he looked confused, as if he weren’t so sure about why they had to do that. Then, he contemplated about whether this could also be good for him, to which he finally smiled.

“Mind telling me what that situation actually is?” Jinyoung coughed.

“Well, you saw it just now. My brother-,”

“Yeah, yeah. Your brother thinks you wrote a story about his boyfriend. Did you?”

Now, Jinyoung was back to shifting nervously and combing his hair as if that would help him find an answer that wasn’t as hard to say out loud. Saying it to himself or Hongseok – yeah, no problem. But to someone else, to someone he hadn’t really talked to in years?

“I- I did, yes. The stories were never supposed to get out, like I told you. I just wrote them whenever I had to get over a crush. And one of those happened to be on Mark, my brother’s boyfriend.”

Jackson watched him as he spoke, chewing on his tongue as he tilted his head and gave Jinyoung a throughout look. He wasn’t telling him everything he needed to know.

“That’s not all, is it? It wouldn’t need you to date someone else to get your brother off your case if this was all in the past. No, you still have feeling for Mark, don’t you?”

For a second Jinyoung just stared blankly at Jackson. Of course, after all those years Jackson still had to somehow sense whenever Jinyoung wasn’t being entirely truthful.

“Maybe,” was Jinyoung’s mumbled response to which Jackson chuckled, shaking his head.

“Listen. I need you to be honest with me, Jinyoung. If we’re gonna do this I need you to explain to me exactly what’s the situation. Do you or do you not still have feelings for Mark?”

It was annoying, kind of, how Jackson suddenly had the upper hand in this matter. But fair enough, after all Jinyoung had dragged him into this. Giving him the truth was the only thing he could do to pay him back, even if it wasn’t much.

“Yes, I do. I think I have liked him for almost all of high school so far and to be honest, I have no idea how to stop. It’s eating me alive, Jackson. There is nothing I can do, not even the story about him helped and I’m sure it’s because he is always around. I see him with Jaebum, and I feel horrible, not just because it hurts to see him with someone else but also because I feel so incredibly guilty. Sure, sometimes Jaebum is a pain in the butt, but I would never ever want to hurt him like that. If he knew I still liked Mark-,”

“He’d feel like he owes you something. He’d probably break up with Mark so that you could get rid of your feelings and he doesn’t have to worry about you and Mark ever getting together.”

Jinyoung swallowed at what Jackson said because if he was honest that was basically the nail hit on the head. Slowly, he nodded.

“I met Mark first, you know. His mother met my mum when they went out shopping and me and Mark were both with them. So, we started a conversation and yeah. I think I was pretty gone from that moment on. He is older than me of course, so I was a little scared that maybe he wouldn’t wanna be my friend, but in the end, we exchanged numbers and started texting. I really wanted to ask him out, but it never got that far. He came over one day and once Jaebum laid eyes on him, he was just as gone as me. After that, well, Mark and I still kind of hung out, but we grew apart then, which left everyone scared that I didn’t like him, it especially scared Jaebum once they started dating. But, I mean, I couldn’t exactly tell him that I had met Mark first and liked him first, too.”

It almost made Jinyoung laugh. The whole “I liked him first but someone else swooped in and got him before I could even try” agenda. Seemed like that was his destiny. Once he finished speaking, he looked at Jackson again, who thankfully hadn’t connected any dots. The look on Jackson’s face did say a lot though. He felt sorry for Jinyoung, which, even though he could understand, the latter did not exactly like. Before he could complain, Jackson started speaking, making him sink a little lower onto his seat.

“Thank you, for telling me. I can imagine that that must be though. And I’ll gladly help you. In fact, you’re actually helping me, too.”

Now, that came as a surprise to Jinyoung. Irritated, he blinked at Jackson a few times.

“Well, unlike popular belief it was actually Wonpil who broke up with me, not vice versa,” Jackson’s face had turned slightly red as he scratched the back of his neck, “he didn’t want me to go to China, you know. Was scared that I’d come back in love with someone else.”

Jinyoung snorted at that. “Right, because there has ever been anyone else for you,” he mumbled, shaking his head, “so, you’re saying that by pretending to date me, you’ll make him jealous and might even get him back?”

Jackson nodded, playing with the straps of his backpack. A part of Jinyoung felt sorry for the other boy, after all he hadn’t thought that Wonpil was even capable of breaking up with Jackson after all those years and the hard work he had put into getting him to be his boyfriend in the first place.

“I hope that’s not a problem for you,” Jackson said now, looking at Jinyoung with worry in his eyes. And, yeah, somehow it did feel strange, pretending to date Jackson to make Wonpil jealous. Wonpil had been his best friend at some point… but, well, it wasn’t like _he_ had ever cared about that. Had he not only abused Jinyoung’s trust for him but also lied to everyone around them about Jinyoung. So, even if it was strange, it also came with some kind of satisfaction.

“It’s not. I just think we should get some rules straight.”

“And that’s coming from someone as gay as you.”

Jinyoung gave Jackson a blank stare.

Jackson coughed. “Sorry, stupid joke. Anyways, what rules did you have in mind?”

Jinyoung sighed, pressed his lips together and finally clicked his tongue.

“Well, first of all, I don’t want us to kiss again.” Jackson laughed.

“Wow, so _you_ kiss _me_ and now you’re telling me we can’t do it again? Don’t know about you, but I don’t think it’s really convincing that we’re together if I’m not allowed to kiss you.”

Jinyoung looked at him, contemplating. He did have a point, but it still didn’t feel right in Jinyoung’s mind.

“You can hold my hand. Put your arm around me. I’m just not such a big fan of PDA, that’s all,” well, not the _whole_ truth but a part of it.

Jackson let out a laugh again, shaking his head.

“Fine. Hand holding it is. Now, the next rule is that you come to all my fencing tournaments and the after parties.”

“Woah, wait, wait, wait. I don’t go to parties. Like, ever.”

“I know. But you’re dating me now. And I don’t just go to parties. I _host_ the parties.”

Jinyoung swallowed hard. Jackson was sitting on the table now, leaning over the notebook Jinyoung had pulled out of his bag. “RULES” was written in bold letters on top of the page, with a small number 1 underneath, stating “no kissing, but holding hands and such is okay.” He chuckled.

“Fine. Parties it is,” Jinyoung grumbled, writing that down as rule number two. Jackson grinned widely, ruffling Jinyoung’s hair. The latter hissed, giving Jackson an annoyed look.

“Rule number 3 never do that again. I hate it.”

“Ay, ay, captain!”

Jinyoung did chuckle a little bit at that.

“Alright. Oh, we also need to make sure that no one ever finds out that this is fake.”

“Isn’t that a given?” Jackson tilted his head. Jinyoung shrugged.

“I guess. But we should till write it down. See it as some kind of, uh, contract.”

“What is this? Am I becoming president?”

“Pretty sure you weren’t born in the US so… no.”

“You really take the fun out of every joke I make, don’t you?”

“I aim to please.”

There it was again, Jackson’s chuckle. Jinyoung remembered vividly how endeared he used to be by that sound or any form of laughter or joy Jackson would ever show. Being in love was a silly thing, he figured, and felt yet another sting of guilt when he thought about how now he was feeling the same exact way towards Mark.

“Alright. We’ll sign it once it’s finished. So, what do we have so far? No kissing, you’re coming to all my tournaments and parties, I shall not ruffle your hair, no one can find out this is fake… anything else you wanna put on there?” Jackson looked at the notebook and back at Jinyoung.

“Hm, I don’t know. Maybe-,”

“OH, I’ve got something!” Jackson interrupted him, making him wince. His eyes widened as he looked at Jackson in shock.

“Jeez, no need to yell like that. What is it?”

“I could like, uh, write you small notes every day”, Jackson smiled lightly. Jinyoung gave him a confused look, but his cheeks blushed, nonetheless.

“Well, Wonpil always asked me to write him notes, but I never did. It’s a bit of a stretch, don’t you think? Having to tell him I love him every single day? That takes the importance out of the words, doesn’t it?”

And the blush left Jinyoung’s cheeks right away. Instead, he frowned, mumbling something like “If you don’t think it’s cute why do it” under his breath.

“Sure, sounds like a plan,” he said loudly enough for Jackson to hear this time, writing that down as number five. Jackson smiled, looking at Jinyoung’s hand as he wrote the words down.

“You have a great handwriting”, he commented. Jinyoung looked up, eyebrows raised.

“Thanks,” was his slightly surprised response. He couldn’t exactly say why but hearing a compliment from Jackson made him feel somewhat warm inside. He tried to shake that feeling off, after all it was literally just a fact stated. Jinyoung _did_ have an amazing handwriting. That was the reason his mother had given up on him ever becoming a doctor. That and, well, his math grade.

“I think the bell is about to ring. Do you have anything else or do you wanna sign our holy contract now?” Jackson sat back down next to Jinyoung and grabbed a pen from his own bag. Jinyoung laughed at Jackson’s choice of words before he thought about them for a second. No, he couldn’t think of anything to add.

“Nope, I think we’re done her. Let’s sign it.”

Going home felt like the one thing he shouldn’t do. Now it wasn’t just Yugyeom who hated him, but also Jaebum who was not only suspicious of Jinyoung’s feelings for his boyfriend, but also Jinyoung’s apparent new relationship he hadn’t told anyone about.

Sitting in Hongseok’s car, happy that his best friend had offered to give him a ride, Jinyoung wondered if maybe he should just leave the country and never come back.

“You know that your mother would find you right away, also where would you even go? Korea? To do what?” Hongseok stopped at a red light and looked over at his friend who continued to bang his head against the window.

“I could go to another country. Maybe Japan. Japanese is similar to Korean, right? I could probably learn that quickly.”

Hongseok rolled his eyes, putting one of his hands on Jinyoung’s shoulder as the other remained on the steering wheel.

“My dear best friend, stop being dramatic. I’m sure Yugyeom will eventually figure out that it wasn’t you who snitched on him and Jaebum will most probably believe your lie now that I’m involved in the plan.”

See, yes, Jinyoung and Jackson _had_ said that they wouldn’t tell anyone about their little fake-dating scheme, but Hongseok was _Hongseok_. There wasn’t anything Jinyoung wouldn’t tell him and faking a whole relationship in front of him would only turn out disastrous, so, Jinyoung had made the decision to fill him in on their plan.

“And when will Yugyeom figure that out, huh? When suddenly the real snitch steps forward? How likely is that? And Jaebum, god, I really hope he buys it. I don’t wanna talk to him about my feelings for Mark.”

Jinyoung finally leaned away from the passenger seat’s window, looking out the front one now, holding back yet another sigh.

“You’ll probably have to talk to him about your feelings for Mark, though. Just tell him that you used to like him back when he and Jaebum were just starting to date and that it was then that you wrote the story. That it’s all in the past and that your heart belongs to Jackson now.” Hongseok made it sound like it was easy, Jinyoung noticed. But all of this wasn’t easy, he was actually a pretty horrible liar, and the fact that he managed to lie so blatantly to Jaebum earlier today still had him baffled.

“I wish you could just tell him that for me. I’ll just be a stuttering mess; I won’t know what to say or how to say it and he’s gonna see right through me.”

It was Hongseok now who held back a sigh. He loved Jinyoung like a brother, but sometimes he really wanted to throw him out of his car and run him over right then and there.

“Have a little faith in yourself, Jinyoungie. It’s important to you, isn’t it? To keep up a good relationship with your brother and Mark. I mean, I guess it would be better to tell them the truth because the truth is always nicer than lying, but,” he gave Jinyoung a side glance, “but I guess in this situation lying is probably better. So, just try at least. And believe for yourself that this is the only way, alright? We don’t want you to regret lying in the end, so better do it right from the beginning.”

Jinyoung listened to Hongseok’s words as he remained silent. He knew Hongseok had a point, but it still felt somewhat impossible to actually believe he could successfully lie to his brother for more than a day. What if Jaebum figured it out because Jinyoung didn’t act like a boyfriend would? But then again, how on earth should Jinyoung know how a boyfriend behaves when he had never been one before? God, it was tiring, all of this.

“I’ll give it my best, I promise. At least you’re helping me with this, if you back me up it’ll look more convincing.”

“Sure. I’ll always have your back, Jinyoungie.” Hongseok placed the hand that had been on Jinyoung’s shoulder before down on Jinyoung’s hand and gave it a few little pats. Jinyoung smiled.

“I know. Thank you.”

It didn’t take long until they arrived at Jinyoung’s house. With shaking legs, Jinyoung got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him, looking at Hongseok who had also left the car and was walking towards the entrance. Slowly, Jinyoung followed him to the front, fumbling in the pockets of his jacket for the keys, when suddenly the door was pulled open and Jinyoung felt himself forget how to breathe.

Mark stood there and looked at him with eyes full of sorrow. And Jinyoung didn’t understand. Why would he look at him like this?

“Why did you never tell me?” Mark asked. Jinyoung blinked, wanted to look over at Hongseok who just stood there next to them awkwardly.

“Tell you what?” Jinyoung asked, even though he already knew the answer.

“Why did you never tell me you liked me before Jaebum did?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jinyoung and Mark "talk".   
> Jinyoung and Jackson start their first day as a fake-couple at school.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, hi!  
> I am so sorry for disappearing for two months (almost three, i know, please don't hate me too much).  
> I guess there was a lot going on with university and also the whole leaving jyp situation made me anxious in the beginning.  
> but now that we know that the boys are safe and we will get more content, music and love from them, I can continue writing this without my heart hurting, so yay!
> 
> this chapter is kind of a filler, since I wanted to show y'all that I am not dead, contrary to popular belief.  
> I hope the next chapter will be up earlier, I promise to you it will not take me two months to update.
> 
> and now, enjoy an awkward Jinyoung!

To say the atmosphere in the room was awkward would be the understatement of the century. Mark was sitting on Jinyoung’s bed while Jinyoung himself was seated on his desk chair, swinging slightly from side to side to at least do something as he waited for his brain to form an answer to what Mark had asked when he had opened the door.

In all honesty, Jinyoung thought that the question had been a rather stupid one to ask. Why he didn’t tell him that he had liked him before Jaebum did? Obviously because he was a coward and his brother had always been better at approaching, well, _anyone_ , really. He was also fairly sure that he even stated why in the short story itself, which now caused him to wonder about whether Mark had even read it or if he had only seen the title and _assumed_. But then again, if he hadn’t read it how would he even know that Jinyoung had liked him _before_ Jaebum had? Jinyoung really needed to stop spiraling or he would just simply fall of this chair and die.

“Are you ever gonna say anything, Jinyoung?” Mark sighed finally and Jinyoung pressed his lips together before clearing his throat. He really should be saying something, Hongseok was distracting Jaebum in the front yard and he wasn’t sure how long it was gonna take until Jaebum caught on.

Jinyoung pulled a hand through his hair and looked at Mark, wishing his heart didn’t do that thing again when he saw the sad and disappointed, maybe even questioning look in the older boy’s eyes.

“What do you want me to say? Yes, I liked you before Jaebum did. But I was too scared to do anything about it and Jaebum wasn’t,” okay, off to a good start. But how to go on now? This was already as bold as Jinyoung could possibly go without revealing too much about his hurt pride and his broken heart.

Mark seemed to be fine with this answer, or at least as fine as one could be after hearing that your boyfriend’s little brother had (had) a crush on you.

“Jinyoungie…,” Mark’s eyes were back to being sad and Jinyoung wanted nothing more than to flee his room and never return. That’s exactly what he had feared – making Mark sad. Gosh, he had started hanging out with him again because he _hated_ to see him sad and now, he was sitting here on his bed looking as if Jinyoung had just ran over his cat with his car. All of what he had hoped would never happen again was happening in this moment right now and it was all Yugyeom’s fault. Jinyoung made a mental note to spit in Yugyeom’s cereal in the morning.

“Look, I don’t know what else you want me to say, I really don’t. Jaebum asked you out first and that’s that. I- I got over it, you know? I even, uh, I even got a boyfriend now, yeah. A boyfriend I kiss and who, uh, grabs my butt sometimes.”

And the good start had officially been overthrown by a ridiculously bad ending.

Mark seemed to be confused, if about the fact Jinyoung had a boyfriend or the fact that that boyfriend “grabbed his butt sometimes”, Jinyoung didn’t know. He really hoped that it wasn’t the former.

Quickly, Jinyoung got up from his chair and coughed.

“Listen, I’m sorry for causing this many problems for you and Jaebum but I assure you that you don’t have to worry about anything. I am totally over you, like totally, I don’t think of you anymore at all, I sometimes even forget you exist completely, you know?” He scratched the back of his neck as he bit down on his tongue, cursing in his head. Quickly, he bolted to the door and pulled it open, practically running down the stairs just in time to see Hongseok coming in with Jaebum.

“You’re here!” Jinyoung said and grabbed for Hongseok’s arm, “do you mind coming with me for a second?”

He was well aware that Jaebum still had a bone to pick with him, but he didn’t care, he just wanted to get out of this house as fast as possible, not ready to face either Mark or Jaebum at least not for the next three years, not after that shit show he had just staged upstairs. Hongseok didn’t have time to answer because Jinyoung dragged him outside into the back garden right then, only stopping when they went out the gate that led them to the other side of the street.

“Woah, mind telling me what’s going on?” Hongseok said when Jinyoung finally stopped and leaned against one of the big trees gracing the street. Closing his eyes, Jinyoung rubbed his face with his hand and sighed.

“I messed up, Hongseokie, like big time.”

“Oh no, what did you do?”

Jinyoung told Hongseok about the conversation he had with Mark and once he was done, Hongseok just stared at him with a slightly open mouth.

“You- oh my god, how can someone be this awkward? You have a boyfriend that “touches your butt sometimes”? Who even says something like this?”

“I do, apparently,” Jinyoung mumbled, groaning after. He really was a lost cause, wasn’t he? Gosh, his whole act with Jackson would never work, not if he was going to be this awkward around Mark. Both Mark and his brother would surely catch on if his behavior didn’t change and if he knew one thing about himself then the fact that he never ever got rid of his awkward stages.

Hongseok pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, well, that is nothing we can’t fix. Sure, you made it a little difficult by, you know, dragging me out the second I came back in with Jaebum, and of course that absolute garbage conversation you had with Mark, but it’s fine, we can still _fix_ this.”

It was touching how Hongseok tried his best to convince Jinyoung that everything was gonna be alright when both of them knew that in reality their chances of tricking Jaebum und Mark were practically nonexistent. Jinyoung couldn’t quite believe his luck when it came to Hongseok, he had been his best friend without any obstacles for so long and would literally do anything for him. Obviously, Jinyoung felt the same way and would literally move all the stars for Hongseok if possible.

“You’re good at this, Hongseok, I almost fell for it,” Jinyoung sank down onto the floor, crouching with his hands crossed in front of his chest, “but I don’t think I’ll survive. Maybe at school, but neither Jaebum nor Mark are going to school anymore. So, isn’t the idea actually no use anyway?” Jinyoung looked up at Hongseok who stared back at him with a frown.

“You wanna back out of it now? When I just distracted Jaebum for fifteen minutes telling him how disgustingly in love you and Jackson are and how you haven’t been able to shut up about him for weeks? Yeah, I don’t think so, ‘nyoungie. I get it, lying sucks. But you said it yourself: you don’t want Jaebum to think he owes you anything, you don’t want him to break up with Mark for your sake. We both know that that’s exactly what he would do because that’s just the kind of person he is. You’re not a bad person, Jinyoung, of course you wouldn’t want your brother to break up with his long-time boyfriend just because you’ve been in love with him for two years.”

Hongseok went on to crouch next to Jinyoung now, placing his hand on the younger’s shoulder. Looking back at him, Jinyoung thought about his friend’s words. Was Hongseok right? Did he need to convince them so that he wouldn’t risk ruining their relationship after all? Was this his only shot at getting out of this and maybe even (hopefully) over his feelings for Mark in the process? He bit the insides of his cheeks and adverted his gaze, looking at the sky instead, hoping for a sign.

Funnily enough, right then and there an airship flew by that held an advertisement for Nike. It literally told him to _just do it_.

Jinyoung had texted Jackson that night, asking him if he could add something to the rules they had come up with; driving with Yugyeom was the absolute las thing Jinyoung wanted to do and he knew that Jackson had a car and drove himself to school every morning. Of course, Jackson had texted back a thumbs up emoji and a winky face, making Jinyoung cringe.

The next morning, he was waiting in front of his house, Yugyeom long gone with their car and Jaebum watching him cautiously from his window. It was ridiculous, really, how Jaebum thought he had to somehow confirm that Jackson was indeed his boyfriend. Jinyoung shifted on his feet and chewed on his bottom lip, checking the watch on his left wrist. Jackson wasn’t late, he actually had two more minutes, but Jinyoung just really hoped he would just drive around the corner right now, saving him from his misery.

Feeling his brother’s stare on his nape, he cleared his throat and walked a few meters to the right, only stopping when he reached the tree that would take him out of Jaebum’s view. How had he not thought about this earlier? Leaning against the tree, Jinyoung let out a sigh and pulled out his phone from his jeans and checked to see if Jackson had texted him anything about being late. There was no text from Jackson on his lock screen, though, but one from a person he had forgotten he had the number of.

**_Wonpil Kim:_** Is it true that you’re dating Jackson???

“Just fucking great,” Jinyoung mumbled, pulling a hand through his hair, and regretting it instantly – he had spent literally fifteen minutes trying to get them to look like this. Not knowing what he should answer, if even, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and looked up when he heard a car coming closer. To his relief, it really was Jackson stopping in front of him the next second, rolling down the passenger seat window and giving him a cheeky grin.

“Get in loser, we’re going to school.” Jinyoung laughed at the reference and opened the door, plopping down onto the leather seat.

“Nice ride,” he commented as he buckled his seatbelt. Jackson nodded, his eyes back on the road.

“Thanks. Was a present from my parents when I won the championship last fall.” He drove onto the main street and Jinyoung looked out his window. He didn’t know what to say to that or if he even had to say anything, so he just nodded and smiled, not sure if Jackson even saw it.

They rode in silence for a while before Jinyoung remembered the text he had gotten from Wonpil.

“Oh, Wonpil texted me this morning,” he said and turned his head back to Jackson, who immediately spun his own head to face Jinyoung. Thank god they were at a stop light.

“He did?!”

“Yeah, asked me if it’s true that I’m dating you.”

Jackson snorted.

“Of course, he’d ask you. He is probably too scared to hear the answer from me. Gosh, what a dick. Don’t you think he is such a dick?” Jackson shook his head as he continued driving when the light turned green. Jinyoung went back to chewing on his bottom lip. If Jackson only knew all of it.

“Well, yeah. He definitely is a dick,” he mumbled, looking out the windshield and hoping Jackson would drop the topic. Apparently, the boy was too busy with being in his own head, so he did as Jinyoung silently wished, not talking at all until they made it to school. Here was where it got interesting. Jackson stopped the engine once he was done parking and glanced over at Jinyoung who probably looked just as nervous as he felt because Jackson’s hand landed on his shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“Don’t worry too much, Jinyoungie. I’m positive we’ll rock being fake-boyfriends.” His hand slipped down to grab Jinyoung’s and for a second Jinyoung really felt reassured, safe. He needed this to work, he needed to hear his brother say that everything was fine, that he believed him and most importantly that he wasn’t considering breaking up with Mark because of any feelings Jinyoung had left for him. God, he really hoped this would work.

Jackson told him to wait and so Jinyoung did, watching how Jackson jumped out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him and walking around the car to open the passenger seat door for Jinyoung, a big smile on his face. Jinyoung hated that he blushed, but he gave Jackson a smile back and hopped out too, listening to the sound of the door closing and Jackson locking his car. His eyes scanned his surroundings and, yes, just as he had predicted, eyes were all over him and Jackson, whispering, when Jackson intertwined their fingers and started walking towards the entrance. It came to no surprise that someone other than Jaebum had seen their kiss and spread the news as fast as they could, a wildfire that had now reached every single soul in their school.

In any other situation this would be Jinyoung’s absolute nightmare; everyone looking at him, talking to their friends in hushed voices as he walked by. He had absolutely loved his invisible life at High School, had enjoyed only knowing those he wanted to know and be associated with only the things he wanted to be associated with. This, the whole situation with Jackson, was the exact opposite of that. As of now, he would be known as Jackson Wang’s boyfriend, as the one who snatched the Chinese Prince away, the fencing king, the whatever you wanna name him. People would suddenly know his name and they would probably know that he was the one who’s stories had been published on that stupid school blog. Maybe they would ask themselves why Jackson was with him, an insignificant boy who had nothing going for him except for writing love stories about people who never liked him back (even though he wasn’t sure that was the case with Youngjae, but oh well (and also they would probably assume that the stories where about Jackson and that he, in fact, did like him back, so maybe Jinyoung really was just all up in his head about nothing at all) (Yeah most probably that)).

Together, the two boys walked through the hallways, stopping at their lockers, and getting out their stuff for the first periods. Jinyoung was the one to let go off Jackson’s hand first, gaining a pout from Jackson that seemed so sincere that he almost grabbed it again. Rolling his eyes with a smile, Jinyoung looked to his side, spotting none other than Yugyeom staring at him with something that could be described as absolute confusion. Jinyoung turned his head away again and cleared his throat. This was gonna be a long day.

Jackson brought him to his first class and gave him a kiss on the cheek when he left, making Jinyoung gasp and a few girls around them giggle. Jackson gave him a grin and waved as he ran off, to whatever class he had now. With a red head, Jinyoung walked in and straight to his seat, where Hongseok was already waiting for him with crossed arms and raised eyebrows.

“Now, now. Who do we have here?” he greeted him as Jinyoung sat down and Jinyoung only shot him a glare, making him chuckle.

“Don’t give me any shit, Hongseok, please,” he whispered to him. Hongseok clicked his tongue and shrugged.

“Fine. I won’t. But,” he looked around quickly, “how is the fake dating going so far?” he had switched to Korean and Jinyoung’s head did that thing again were it suddenly started spinning. Groaning, he put his book on his desk followed by a pen and his notebook.

“Could be better, could be worse. Wonpil texted me this morning,” he answered, also in Korean and pulled out his phone, shoving it over to Hongseok’s side of the table. Exhaling loudly, Hongseok shook his head.

“You didn’t answer, yet?” he looked from the phone to Jinyoung and the latter nodded.

“I feel like I shouldn’t. Like why would I talk to him, you know? I am dating his ex. Wouldn’t it be weird if I texted my boyfriend’s ex?”

“Well, first of all, he is not your real boyfriend. And second, I think you should. You’re also doing this for Jackson, right? And he wants Wonpil back,” Hongseok stopped for a second, before he continued, “not that I understand _why_ , but okay. Anyways, text him back and just, you know, get the jealousy going. I’m sure Jackson would be thankful for that.”

Jinyoung gave that some thought. Maybe Hongseok was right. He and Jackson both needed something out of this arrangement, and while his something still seemed far from being achieved, Jackson’s something could still be reached easier.

“Fine. I’ll text him.” Jinyoung looked over at the door, checking if Mr. Matthews was anywhere in sight, and when he was sure the teacher was still wandering wherever, he unlocked his phone and wrote a very simple but effective answer.

**_Jinyoung:_** Yes, I am.

“Harsh,” Hongseok commented from his side. Jinyoung grunted and put the phone into his bag, just in time for Mr. Matthews to walk in and not catching him being on his phone on school grounds.


End file.
